


Familial Ties

by bellydancer_10



Series: Yasmina Drelas [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alternative Start mod, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, College of Winterhold Questline, F/M, Half-Human, Mage Dragonborn, Thalmor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-02-15 20:04:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2241708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellydancer_10/pseuds/bellydancer_10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yasmina, who is half Nord and half elf, has always lived in the province of Cyrodiil with her adopted parents until one day, she decides to go to Skyrim and study at the College of Winterhold along with a cynical bodyguard her parents hired for him to protect her. Wanting nothing more than to find out more about her heritage, she tries putting the pieces of her heritage together, but becomes sidetracked when she discovers she is the legendary Nord hero the Dragonborn. But her journey in order to defeat Alduin the World Eater gets her one step closer to discovering about her heritage than she ever realized.</p>
<p>Rated M due to violence, language, sexuality, references to sexuality, adult content, and racism.</p>
<p>CHANGED THE TITLE TO "FAMILIAL TIES"!!! I thought the last title was kind of lame, so I changed it. And I also edited the first chapter because I realized it definitely needed it.</p>
<p>Flames are not welcomed but constructive criticism is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Orphan Baby

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever Elder Scrolls fanfiction, so, please, be easy on me.
> 
> I do not own anything from the Elder Scrolls series, it all belongs to Bethesda.

** Morning Star, 4E 184 **

It was a late night one winter. The moon was full and there were signs of snow just passing as there were patches of them here and there on the ground, and it was a cold night up north in the province of Cyrodiil if there was anybody near the border of the harsh lands of Skyrim. The wind howled as it moved the trees and their branches, making people shiver in the night in the cold if they were out in the wilderness. Wolves could be heard howling in the wind, causing many night critters to go into hiding for fear of becoming a midnight snack to one of the predators.

Most people in Cyrodiil would normally stay out of the wilderness this late at night or if they were out in the wilderness, they would camp somewhere in an area where no one could see them. There were packs of wolves, bandits, and vampires that roamed around the area, and there was always a risk of being ambushed by either one of those groups, so most people tried to stay away from the wilderness during the night. There were only two people, though, who were walking out late at night in the wilderness.

They were two Dunmer who were from the city of Cheydinhal walking northwest from the city. One was younger looking with jet black hair that was in a low ponytail with some strands falling in front of his face while the other one looked older with brown hair that was graying at the top of his head and his face having more wrinkle lines on it. Some people may call them crazy, brave, or even stupid for walking in the wilderness this late at night with the risk of a possible ambush, but these two Dunmer were capable warriors and were able to handle anything that came their way.

The two Dunmer were walking late at night in the wilderness, each having their own reason. The older Dunmer was looking for some snowberries for his wife for an alchemy ingredient for her alchemy shop. The younger Dunmer, though, was just accompanying him for protection when the older Dunmer’s wife had pleaded him to take someone along with him. Even though the older Dunmer had explained to his wife that he was a capable warrior and could take care of himself, she persisted and so he decided to take a companion with him just to make her feel better.

The older Dunmer smiled fondly as he thought about his wife back in Cheydinhal in their alchemy shop most likely sleeping. For a Dunmer woman, she was really sweet, but was also fierce when people brought out that side of her. The older Dunmer’s thoughts are then interrupted by the sound of his companion complaining.

“Urgh, I really don’t understand why we could not make camp earlier, Athelyn. How can you keep walking out here with it being so dark and know where you are going?”

Athelyn responded by looking at him over his shoulder and smirking. “I know where I am going, I have been down here plenty of times, even on darker nights than this,” he said. “Besides, the full moon gives us plenty of light to guide us. Don’t tell me the famous Seryn Varen, the fierce mercenary, is afraid of the dark?”

The younger Dunmer named Seryn glared at him for the jab.

“Of course I am not afraid of the dark! I just don’t understand why we couldn’t make camp and get the snowberries in daylight.”

“We would not have been very far from the area even if we did camp earlier,” Athelyn explained. “Besides, I want to leave back to Cheydinhal and get back to my wife as soon as possible. I worry for her…”

Seryn then gave Athelyn an understanding look when he realized what he was talking about as a look of sorrow crossed Athelyn’s face, no doubt thinking about his late son who died during the Great War.

Casien Drelas was the only son and child of Athelyn and Lilinah and also Seryn’s best friend. He became a battlemage for the Imperial Legion when the Great War broke out back in 171. His parents begged him not to go, but Casien had reasoned with them and told them he would not sit idly by and let the Thalmor walk all over them and destroy everything that he holds dear to him. Seryn did not go with him because he did not want to get involved unless it was financially beneficial for him. Wars did not give him money to keep a roof over his head or feed him. So Casien left for the war, and his family and Seryn never saw him again. For the first two years Casien was gone, a courier would come to Cheydinhal a few times with a letter from him to his family, but the letters suddenly stopped coming for the third year he had left to war. Athelyn, Lilinah, and Seryn feared the worst, but they hoped for the best as well. It was not until the war ended that they finally heard something about Casien.

It was the year 176 when an Imperial soldier came to Cheydinhal and came to Athelyn and Lilinah’s house, telling them what became of their son, and what they heard broke their hearts.

Casien and his fellow soldiers were camping when they were suddenly ambushed by an Aldmeri Dominion unit. Caught by surprise, Casien and the soldiers were defeated and were given an ultimatum: accept the Aldmeri Dominion as their rightful rulers or be killed. Casien was one of the first who refused and, therefore, was beheaded before his body was burned along with the rest who refused.

Seryn had never seen Athelyn and Lilinah so broken before and ever since then, he has hated the Aldmeri Dominion, including the Thalmor, even more. Casien was almost like a brother to him and to have him taken away all because he refused to bow down to a bunch of snooty mers was painful. And the fact that Casien never got the chance to have a traditional Dunmeri burial, just like his parents wanted, was heartbreaking. Athelyn and Lilinah never quite got over it yet since Casien was their only child.

Seryn offered a comforting hand on Athelyn’s shoulder and said to him, “Lilinah will be alright, she is a strong woman.”

He felt as if his comfort would not be enough, but it seemed to help a little as Athelyn gave him a look of gratitude. “Thank you, my brother, that means a lot to me,” he said.

“We should keep moving, we are almost there and I don’t want us to stay out here too late.”

The two Dunmer went up the path towards their destination in silence the rest of the way. When they finally reached their destination, Seryn is relieved that he would be able to rest soon. The journey from Cheydinhal to here had been a long one. He may be used to traveling long distances, being a hired mercenary, but a mer still needed his rest.

Athelyn must have been relieved too because he sounded happy when he spotted the snowberry shrub. He bent down near the bush and took out a knife from his boot before cutting out a few of the snowberries from the shrub. Seryn, who was anxious to leave so he could rest, did not even notice Athelyn become tense once he pocketed the snowberries.

“Alright, we got what we came for, let’s head back east and make camp.”

Before he could even move, Athelyn had grabbed his wrist firmly, preventing him from moving and nearly startling him.

“Athelyn, what is it?”

“Shh!” Athelyn immediately said before asking quietly, “Do you hear anything?”

Seryn stopped and listened and when he heard nothing, he said so.

“Exactly, it is too quiet.”

Realizing what Athelyn meant, Seryn concluded that there was danger nearby. When the forest was deathly quiet, it meant there was danger nearby to a warrior.

Both Dunmer took out their weapons, Athelyn taking out his one-handed sword while Seryn took out his two ebony blades. They were now alert and looking and hearing for any signs of danger that was in the thickness of the dark forest.

It was then there was a noise to the two Dunmer’s right. Voices were heard from the distance and up ahead, they could see a glow up ahead. Athelyn and Seryn made eye contact with each other, both of them wondering if it was bandits up ahead. Seryn made a move to look ahead, but before he could even move, there was a different sound that was coming straight towards them. It was coming towards them really fast, and Seryn was getting ready to defend himself when Athelyn suddenly grabbed him and pulled him towards the left, hiding behind a nearby large tree that hid them both well.

Seryn snarled at Athelyn, about to ask why he pulled him behind this tree when Athelyn covered his mouth and put a finger to his lips. Seryn still wondered why he pulled him here when he heard the sound of someone running through the bushes of where they just were, stopping and breathing heavily, trying to catch a breath as if it had been running for a long time. Seryn and Athelyn looked around the tree, making sure to not be seen, to see who or what had came and was surprised at what they saw. It was a woman—a Nord woman from what they could tell. From what they could see with the little light in the forest, she had blonde hair, was pale, and tall, as most Nords were. She looked as if she was possibly a noble because her clothes were made of fine material. The Nord woman was crouching behind one of the trees across from where they were, and Seryn realized, as he observed the Nord woman more closely, why Athelyn dragged him and hid them behind this tree.

The woman was weaponless and was breathing heavily, clutching onto a bundle for dear life as if it was the most important thing to her. She jumped when the voices Seryn and Athelyn heard earlier started shouting at each other, making both Seryn and Athelyn realize that this woman was on the run. From whom, they did not know, but hearing them just made the woman clutch onto the bundle more tightly to her chest.

The voices could be heard again from the woman’s pursuers, but this time they were closer and clearer.

“Sir, we've lost her, she disappeared.”

“Then find her, you imbecile! I know she is here somewhere…”

The fear was written all over the woman’s face, not realizing how close her pursuers were. She looked around frantically until her eyes landed on the snowberry shrub before looking down at the bundle in her arms. Seryn wondered what was it that the woman was holding and was so adamant in protecting it from her pursuers. He looked to Athelyn and saw he was thinking the same thing, but he signaled Seryn to wait.

The woman got up from where she was and quietly as she could walked over to the shrub. She kissed the bundle with tears in her eyes as if parting from it was the most painful thing she ever had to do before placing the bundle inside it. She moved the branches and leaves around in order to prevent anyone from seeing the bundle getting up and running back the way she came. As soon as she did, her pursuers spotted her.

“There she is!”

“After her!”

From where Athelyn and Seryn were hiding, they could see the woman run east and her pursuers followed behind not too long after. As they ran past the two Dunmer, the group never seeing them, Seryn could feel rage run through his veins as he saw it was the Thalmor that was chasing the Nord woman, and all thoughts of investigating the bundle in the shrub went out of his mind.

Seryn knew full well what the Thalmor had been doing to Nords, just as every other person in Cyrodiil knew. He never did like Nords because of the way they treated him and his people and what they did to them in the past, but if there was any group he hated the most, it was the Thalmor. Even if he did not like Nords, he would not wish any harm done to them by the Thalmor. The Thalmor were notorious for torturing their victims before finally killing them.

As he saw the five Thalmor soldiers and a Thalmor Justiciar run after the Nord woman, he thought of what they would do to her once they got a hold of her, and Seryn could not help but think of his best friend Casien and what the Thalmor did to him. The thought of it just made him angrier, and his grip tightened on his ebony blades, imagining killing every last one of them for what they did to Casien. He got up and ran after them, but he was quickly stopped by Athelyn when he stepped in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Do not be a fool, Seryn, there are too many for you to take on.”

“You are the fool for not avenging your son!” Seryn exclaimed. “Would you not do the same if given the chance?”

“Killing the Thalmor in revenge won’t bring Casien back,” Athelyn responded.

“I don’t care! Every one of those scum deserve to suffer for what they did to him. Casien would want us to avenge his death by wiping out Tamriel of all these Thalmor scum.”

“You don’t know what Casien would want.”

Seryn just scoffs as if just pushing the older Dunmer’s words aside, trying not to listen to him when in reality, he knew Athelyn’s words of wisdom were true. Seryn did not truly know what Casien would want them to do, he was just speaking in anger, but he could not help the rage he felt towards the Thalmor for what they did to his best friend. He deserved better than what they did to him, as if he was nothing but dirt under their feet.

“I understand how you feel, Seryn, Casien was my son and what the Thalmor did to him was unjustly. I often thought of killing the Thalmor in revenge too, but I have a wife who needs me. She is still grieving over the loss of our child, I can’t leave her for the sake of revenge. If you are going to wage war against the Thalmor, do it for a just cause, not in revenge, there is no honor in that.”

Seryn, finally realizing how much danger he could have put him and Athelyn in danger, bowed his head in shame. He knew he would have been killed, and Athelyn too, if he went after the Thalmor, but his anger clouded his judgment. While he was a capable warrior, it would have been folly to take all six of them at one time. He should never have let his anger get the best of him, he had already gone through a century to know that fighting in anger would just get him killed.

It was then that a piercing cry interrupted Seryn’s thoughts, and both Dunmer looked towards where the source of noise came from—the shrub where the Nord woman hid the bundle—and walked towards it. Athelyn was the first to approach it. Once he looked inside the shrub, he used a spell to light the area and is shocked by what he sees.

“Oh, by Azura…”

“What? What is it?”

Seryn came to Athelyn’s side and looked into the shrub, expressing his surprise as well. Inside was a Nord baby girl, but not just any Nord baby, a half Nord baby. The baby looked about 6-months-old with skin as pale as any Nord, but with short curly blonde hair. Its eyes were blue with emerald radial lines around the pupils, but what really stood out the most that made both Dunmer realize why the Thalmor were after the Nord woman were the pointed ear tips on it.

This child was half mer, but whether it was half Altmer or Bosmer, they did not know. It was hard to tell right now, but both Dunmer men were thinking the child was half Altmer and possibly a product of rape. There were rumors that went around during the Great War that when the Thalmor ransacked the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City, they committed all kinds of atrocities towards its citizens, including raping the women. There were rumors of them still doing it. One of the most famous rumors that went around was the Thalmor committing human trafficking in their black market, selling men and women and children as slaves. The slave men and women are viewed and used as sex slaves or 'pets' as they are sometimes called. Most of the time, interbreeding is never allowed within the Aldmeri Dominion and if it is ever found out that someone within the Aldmeri Dominion interbred with someone, there would be consequences to pay. Whether or not these rumors were true, the Dunmer men did not know, but it was the only explanation they could think of that this child was living, and her and her mother were being chased down by the Thalmor.

The child, who was most likely an orphan by now, had tears streaming down her face as she cried, trying to call out for her mother. Athelyn started to feel sympathy for the child, knowing that she was afraid and just wanted to be comforted by her mother. Her mother was now long gone, though, and so, he decided to step in the mother’s place to comfort the child, at least for the time being. Picking the child up with her blanket wrapped around her, he held her in his arms, singing it a lullaby he once knew as a child to calm it down.

At first, the baby was scared and confused at who was holding her. This wasn’t her guardian, and it scared her that this person who was holding her was possibly the same person who tried to hurt her and her guardian earlier, so she started to cry, trying her best to call out her guardian’s name, but she struggled to say it. When she heard the stranger start to sing, though, she realized that he meant no harm and slowly ceased crying.

Athelyn almost sighed with relief when the baby started to stop crying. He was worried that the sound might attract the attention of the Thalmor and was glad that he was able to calm it down. Now, her tears were just reduced to sniffling, and she was looking up at Athelyn with a curious yet cautious expression on her face. That made Athelyn smile as it reminded him of Casien when he was just the child’s age, of how he would look at strangers with a curious expression yet always cautious, never quite trusting them until he got used to them.

“What are we going to do with it?” Seryn suddenly asked, bringing Athelyn out of his thoughts.

Athelyn gave him a confused look.

“What do you mean, ‘what are we going to do with it’?”

“Well, we can’t take it with us, but we can’t just leave it here either. It will die if we do.”

Here, Athelyn gives him a smirk and says in a teasing tone, “I did not know you had a certain fondness for Nords.”

“I don't, but I know we can't just leave it here” Seryn said. “I may not like Nords, but even I am not that cruel to leave a child to fend for itself.”

“So what are we going to do with it?”

Athelyn looked back down at the child, wondering what he should actually do as well. On the one hand, he could just leave it here. That would be the safest route to go for them: to just leave the child here for the Thalmor or other dangerous creatures to find her and kill her, but that would be wrong. He could not live with himself if he just let an innocent child, who knew nothing about the hatred between her own people and his, die all because of an old age hatred between their own races.

“We will take her back to Cheydinhal with us, and we will figure out what to do with her then,” Athelyn finally said.

Seryn nodded in agreement, thinking it was better to do that. No doubt it would be too dangerous to take the child to the Imperial City where Thalmor were crawling everywhere within that city ever since the end of the Great War. As much as he wished to just take the child to an orphanage and just leave it there, he knew that would not be the best course of action for right now. The Thalmor were out and about looking for the child, and they could not risk it. Taking the child to Cheydinhal was probably the most safest route as not many Thalmor came by to the city. They hated the Dunmer more than they hated Nords, so they mostly avoided the city. Even if they had to, they did not stay very long due to the citizens driving them out.

“Let’s go,” Athelyn commanded. “The Thalmor no doubt are on their way back to find the child by now, and we have to keep moving if we don’t want them catching up with us.”

Seryn sighed inwardly, wishing he could get that long waited rest like he originally wanted. He followed after Athelyn all the way back to Cheydinhal and as they walked back, the baby started to cry.


	2. To Name Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it has been a while, but I wanted to at least squeeze in the second chapter. It is now finals week at school, but I am able to put in time to put in the second chapter.
> 
> I realized that I have not quite explained a lot of Athelyn and Seryn's age and left it really vague in the last chapter, and I also have not been depicting the Dunmer culture very accurately. To explain a little more, Athelyn is considered to be old very an elf, not old old, but about mid-age (in his 40s in human years, if you get my meaning), so he has a lot more experience in life, same with his wife. Due to their age, they are a bit older and wiser, and Athelyn (and Lilinah) realized a long time ago that hate only begets hate, so he tried treating other races with respect rather than hate, even though that is hard for certain groups. Seryn is a lot younger than Athelyn and Lilinah, about in his 20s in human years, so he still has a lot to learn. In no way I am trying to make them a Mary Sue, just trying to explain their character so you all have a better understanding of the first chapter. Also, I feel like I am doing a terrible job at depicting Dunmer culture, and the second chapter may prove it. If anyone is willing to give me some constructive criticisms on how to do that, I would be thankful to them.
> 
> To also add, there is another Dunmer character who shows up in this chapter that I made who is very different from most Dunmer, and that is because she is actually based off of someone in real life who is close to me and I decided to add her into this story. Her character helps Yasmina develop as a character. This new character also grew up in a different culture from the Dunmer culture, that is why she is considered different from most Dunmer.
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter, and again, nothing in Bethesda belongs to me, except for all the characters that I create.

Cheydinhal was bustling with people, particularly in the Market and Chapel district. In the Market District, vendors were yelling out to potential customers about their goods, and people coming and going from the inns. Most people, who were at the inns, were travelers just visiting the city, only staying for a day before going on their way, and most of the Cheydinhal’s citizens consisted of Dunmer with very few humans. Throughout the city, children were playing with each other while in the Chapel District, travelers came to the Chapel of Arkay to pay their respects to the divine with very few Dunmer going in and out of the temple since many of them did not worship the Divines. The only place that was not bustling with everyday energy was the Castle Cheydinhal where Count Andel Indarys lived; at least, that’s what it looked like from the outside. All in all, it was considered to be an average day at this time in the morning…

…Until the front gates to the city opened, and this time it was Seryn and Athelyn that walked through the gates with the half-Nord baby in Athelyn’s arms.

At first, the citizens of Cheydinhal did not notice the half-Nord Child until they did an once-over and realized that Athelyn indeed had a half-Nord and half elven child in his arms. Pretty soon, the whole town began whispering amongst each other, wondering why Athelyn brought a half-breed in their community. He and his wife were very well-known and respected citizens of the city, and to see him bring an outsider, particularly a Nord, into their community was something definitely worth gossiping about. One citizen was brave enough to ask them why they brought the child here, but regretted it immediately when Seryn sent him one of his infamous glares that sent him scurrying away.

They continued to walk north in the Market District until they nearly reached the edge of the district to _Lilinah’s Cauldron_ , Athelyn’s wife and his alchemy shop, which was named after Athelyn’s wife. As soon as Athelyn and Seryn walked in the shop, Athelyn called out for his wife.

“Lilinah, I’m home!”

There came a response from the back of the shop.

“Athelyn? Is that you?”

When Athelyn confirmed it was him, Athelyn’s wife Lilinah continued.

“I am surprised you are home so early, I expected you to be here later in the afternoon.”

“We were, uh, in a bit of a hurry to get home.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

Lilinah came out from the back of the store where she mostly kept her storage of supplies and her own alchemy table. After she said that, she immediately saw the half Nord and half elven infant in her husband’s arms. Crying out in shock, she dropped the phial she was holding in her hands, and the phial crashed onto the floor with the contents spilling around her feet. The sound of Lilinah’s cry and the glass breaking caused the infant to cry.

Athelyn tried calming down the child for a few seconds before handing the child over to Seryn. Seryn held her at an arm’s length, not sure how to handle her, while Athelyn went to help his wife clean up the mess.

“ _ **What**_ is that?” Lilinah cried, finally speaking after her initial shock.

“ _That_ is a baby,” Athelyn responded.

“I am fully aware it is a baby,” Lilinah snapped, “what I want to know is _what_ it is. It is obviously not just an elf. And for Oblivion sakes, Seryn, do something to calm the child down!”

“I would, except I know little to nothing about children!”

“Athelyn, please do something!”

Athelyn sighed before taking the child from Seryn much to the latter’s relief, and began singing a lullaby. It took him a few minutes to realize that the lullaby he was singing was the same one he sang to Casien when he was a baby. The song seemed to calm the child down, though, as her cries now reduced to sniffles. When the baby finally stopped crying, Athelyn looked back up at his wife and saw the anger yet sad look on her face, tears nearly glistening in her eyes.

“Lilinah, are you alright?”

“I’m…I’m alright,” Lilinah said, shaking her head before focusing her attention back to Athelyn. The tears were no longer glistening in her eyes, but the anguish look on her face never went away.

“Tell me how you managed to bring a half-mer into our home.”

Athelyn then proceeded to tell her what happened last night, starting from seeing the Nord woman to both him and Seryn having to remain hidden from the Thalmor all night.

“And you are certain that the Thalmor did not follow you here?” Lilinah asked

“Yes, we covered our tracks and stayed off the open road to make sure we weren’t seen.”

Lilinah’s shoulders, which were tense from hearing Athelyn’s story, seemed to relax a little bit. The tension was still there, though, and Athelyn suspected she was still worried about the Thalmor tracking the child down to them, which was understandable. He certainly worried about it when he decided to take the child with him to Cheydinhal.

“Well, I don’t think it should stay here with us,” Lilinah said. “If the Thalmor are after her, then we are endangering our lives by allowing it to stay here.”

“Well, what do you expect me to do? Just throw it out on the streets to fend for itself?” Athelyn responded, a little bit angered and shocked by Lilinah’s lack of  compassion. That normally was not like her. “It is only a baby.”

“I understand it is just a baby, but it is a fugitive wanted by the Thalmor. It can’t stay here,” Lilinah argued back. “You know as well as I and everybody else what the Thalmor do to people who hide fugitives in their homes.”

Athelyn knew very well what the Thalmor did to the people who hid fugitives or “heretics”, as they called them. Whenever he made trips to certain cities or villages around Cyrodiil after the Great War, he would sometimes come across Justiciars and their guards dragging citizens out of their homes, having once or twice witnessed them being beaten in front of him and everyone else within the city whenever they resisted too much. Many times, he had wished to aid them, but every time he did, he always remembered the consequences of what would happen and he couldn't do that, especially when he and his wife were still healing from the loss of their son and trying to get their life back together.

He knew that his wife would get upset by him bringing the child there and she would want to it to be sent to the orphanage, but he just knew it was the right thing to bring the child here. Although Nords and Dunmer have a long history of hatred for each other, Athelyn had learned a long time ago that violence only begets more violence. That did not mean he liked most Nords, who constantly disrespected him and his kin, he just was tired of all the never-ending cycle of violence.

“I am perfectly aware of what they do, but please be reasonable, Lilinah,” he said. “It is only a child, barely old enough to be away from its mother. It needs someone to take care of it for the time being.”

“For the time being?!” Lilinah cried out. “What if by the time we find a home for it, the Thalmor finds out that we have been hiding their fugitive within our home and kill us?”

“You know as well as everybody else in this city that the Thalmor are not welcomed here. Once in a blue moon whenever they show up in the city, they are driven out by the citizens before they can even arrest somebody or find the person they are looking.”

“And if the Thalmor do manage to find this baby they are looking for before they are kicked out of the city, what then is going to happen to us? Are we going to run away and go into hiding, try to start our lives all over again all because you could not leave a mongrel child to its fate?”

“Lilinah!”

Athelyn cried out in shock at the use of the racial term for half-elven people from his wife. Normally, she was a kind and understanding person. He figured she would be more understanding and willing to help the half-mer child, so to hear her use that term was new and shocking to Athelyn.

The raised voices between the couple, though, began to upset the baby as she started making upset noises, and that is when Lilinah had had enough.

“Urgh, you know what, fine!” she said. “If you wish to endanger our lives and destroy what we have left, be my guest, but you two are taking care of it. I am not taking any responsibility over this child.”

“Wai…what?!” Seryn cried. “How am I responsible for this child?”

“Because you two are the ones that found it.”

“I don’t know anything about taking care of children!”

“That is your problem, not mine.”

It was all Lilinah said to them before she went back to the back of her store, slamming the door closed and shaking the whole store. This scared the child even more, making it start to cry, and Athelyn focused his attention on trying to calm it down.

“Well, that went rather smoothly,” Seryn said sarcastically as Athelyn did this.

Athelyn sent him a glare that told him to shut up, and he went back to comforting the child. It was a few minutes later before the child's tears were reduced to sniffles, and Seryn spoke up again.

“Are you going to talk to her?”

Athelyn looked towards the closed door that Lilinah went in, contemplating on whether or not he should try to talk to her. Knowing his wife, though, it was probably best just to leave her be, for the time being.

“Not right now, but I’ll talk to her later. Why don’t you go ahead to the tavern and get some sleep? I think I can handle taking care of her on my own for right now.”

Seryn looked relieved when Athelyn said that, not hesitating to take up on the offer. Telling Athelyn he would come by later, he exited the store, leaving Athelyn alone in the quiet store with the baby.

Athelyn sighed and then looked down at the baby who looked back up at him with that same curious expression on her face as before when he first picked her up last night.

“Well, I guess it is just you and me for right now.”

The baby responded by making a noise and pointing towards the closed door to where Lilinah disappeared to. Understanding what it meant, Athelyn patted it on the back.

“Don’t worry, she will come around eventually. Let’s not worry about that right now, it’s time to take a nap.”

At this, the baby yawned and laid it’s head on Athelyn’s chest. The gesture made Athelyn smile and it brought a warm and familiar feeling to him whenever Casien did that, but he tried not dwelling on it too much. Right now, he needed a good rest and so did the baby.

* * *

 

It was about a few hours later when Athelyn woke up, and he saw that it was a quarter to five and the baby was still fast asleep. Taking this as an opportunity to being able to talk to his wife without having the baby in his arms, Athelyn got up from the bed he and his wife slept in and quietly went to the door, trying his best to not wake the child before it started crying again. He slowly opened the door only to find his wife standing on the other side of the door. He could read the guilt off of her face, no doubt feeling sorry about what she said earlier.

“Can we talk?” she asked him quietly.

Athelyn nodded.

After making sure that the baby was still sleeping, Athelyn quietly closed the door behind him and stood in front of his wife. They stood in front of each other quietly for a few minutes with Lilinah looking down on the floor in shame while Athelyn just waited patiently for his wife to speak.

“I...I am sorry,” she finally said, “for what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have said what I said and yelled at you for doing the right thing. It is just…”

Tears started to glisten in Lilinah’s eyes and she desperately tried to prevent herself from crying, blinking a few times to blink away her tears.

“It is just when I saw you with the baby and you started singing that lullaby, the one that we used to sing to Casien…I don’t know, but I just got so angry.”

Athelyn realized then why his wife was so upset with him. He cursed at himself in his head for not realizing it earlier. He did not know why he sang it to the child, it was just the first one that came to his head. It was the song he always sang to Casien as an elfling when he had trouble sleeping. The fact that he sang that song to another child in front of his wife, who was still grieving over the death of their son, made him realize what a fool he was for not realizing it. He had to make amends for it.

“I felt that you were betraying Casien…”

“Now, you know I would never do that, Casien was my son too,” Athelyn said, “and he will always be in our hearts.”

“I know that, I know you were not and you are right, he will always be in our hearts no matter where he is, but it is still so hard to believe he is gone. I also felt as if seeing that child in your arms just reminded me of him. I just…I really miss our little boy, I miss him so, so much.”

It was then that Lilinah began to break down into tears, and Athelyn put his arms around his wife, comforting her. As she cried, Athelyn too began to cry, feeling a longing to see his son again. How he wished he could see his son’s face again, but he knew he could not. He was gone from this world, never to be seen again until it was their time, and that hurt more than anything. Nothing was more painful to a parent than their child dying before their time came.

It was after a few minutes that Lilinah finally calmed down and pulled herself out of her husband’s arms. Athelyn used his hand to wipe away her tears and put his hands on her cheeks, making her look at him in the eye.

“I thought about it more, and I realized how irrational I was being. The townsfolk were talking about how the Thalmor came to the city gate earlier today while you were asleep…”

At this, Athelyn’s heart nearly leaped from his chest at the sound of the Thalmor’s name.

“The guards would not let them in, though, lying about whether or not they saw someone bring in a half-Nord and half elven child.”

At this, Athelyn relaxed and was thankful for the citizens once again for having their backs, despite bringing in an outsider into their city.

Here in Cheydinhal, its citizens lived by a code, and that code was to protect each other. Most outsiders of the city saw the Dunmer citizens as rude and generally unlikable, but the Dunmer citizens were loyal to each other to a fault. Most outsiders did not see this, mostly because they did not stay long enough to see it. If an outsider decided to stay, though, and did not grasp the concept of Dunmer citizens’ loyalty to one another and followed it, they were immediately outcasted from the city’s society.

“Athelyn, I just want to let you know that I am still against this, but I am allowing it to stay here for the time being until the Thalmor stop searching for her. After that, though, we need to take it to the orphanage, it cannot stay with us, it has to be with its own people.”

“I understand,” Athelyn said, nodding.

“And one more thing,” Lilinah continued, “I know I said I would not help you take care of it, and I still stand by on what I said. I am sorry, but I just don't think I am emotionally capable of taking care of a child right now.”

Athelyn, though reluctant to that idea, nodded to his wife in agreement. He would just have to make do for it and hope for the best that Lilinah would eventually come around and help him take care of it. He could not take care of one baby all by himself, Casien was hard enough to take care of as elfling as it is. He would have to seek spiritual guidance from his ancestors and pray for their help

“I will go talk to Taravinah real quick and bring her over here, have her come look at the baby. Watch the store for me while I am away.”

Lilinah then left the store to get Taravinah before Athelyn could say anything else. He could only watch her go with great sorrow, knowing that anything he would say or do would not change anything. Their relationship hasn’t quite been the same since their son died. Athelyn has been trying desperately to get it to work, but it was becoming more hard as the days went by.

The sounds of the baby crying came from the master bedroom, and Athelyn knew that nap time was over it.

While Lilinah was away, Athelyn watched over the baby and the store. She was gone for almost an hour or so, and nothing eventful happened during those hours. There were customers who came in, but they were not coming in for potions or ingredients, but rather to look at the halfling infant that Athelyn brought in. It was a bit irking to him, but he just dealt with it as he almost expected this to happen. It wasn’t until when Athelyn was closing the store that the store door opened again, and Lilinah walked in with another Dunmer woman this time. The Dunmer woman she was with had light skin for a Dunmer and her eyes were a dark red with long straight light hair, and she wore all white. She did not have the harsh look as most Dunmers did, but rather a kind look to her face and laugh lines that showed she smiled a lot.

This was Taravinah or Tara for short, she was a very close and personal friend to the Drelas family and also their guidance counselor in times of crisis. She was different from most Dunmer, born and raised outside of Morrowind, believing in the Three and a warrior mage like her parents until a certain event in her life made her change paths and become a spiritual guidance counselor instead. Tara traveled around all of Tamriel and studied all religions, including that of the Daedra, and she was able to help people heal through certain tragic events in their lives through her knowledge. She was considered to be highly respected by the few for her wisdom and her pure heart. Her heart was so big that when she heard about the Red Mountain erupting and many of Cheydinhal’s citizens suffering from losses, she moved all the way to Cheydinhal to help people heal.

At first, the people of Cheydinhal were reluctant to Tara staying within the city. They saw her as an outsider to their culture and did not want her help, but overtime, they grew to love and respect her. She had a special status within the city as the town spiritual healer that even sometimes Count Andel Indarys seeked her guidance.

After the Great War and hearing news about the death of Casien, the remaining Drelas family had often seeked Tara’s guidance on how to heal from the loss of their son. It had certainly helped them a little, but Lilinah was still having difficulty moving on, and Tara always made effort everyday to visit the family to make sure that Lilinah was okay.

Not only was Tara a great healer, but she was also a midwife. Throughout Tamriel, she helped women give birth, even though she claimed to have no ties to any temple whatsoever. However, she was a certified priestess of Mara which allowed her to help women give birth. It was why Lilinah brought her over, so she could look at the baby and see whether or not it was in good health.

When Tara first walked in to the store and saw Athelyn, she gave him a bright smile.

“Good evening, Athelyn, how have you been?”

“I…have seen better days, but other than that, I am fine.”

And it was the truth. It was hard to tell a lie to Tara because she was normally able to see right through it.

“The whole town has been buzzing about the little halfling you brought into the city,” Tara said. “You caused quite a stir.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling that would happen…” Athelyn said a little sheepishly.

“Where is the baby?”

“She is over here.”

He pointed over to the side where the baby was. Upon seeing the baby, Tara immediately gushed over it.

"Hi, precious, how are you? You are such a cutie. Oh, no, baby, don’t eat that! That’s bad for you, you could choke on it.”

She pried something out of the baby's mouth and took it from the baby, who made an upsetting noise and tried reaching for it, but Tara kept it out of her reach. It was quiet for a few minutes, except for the baby fussing and crying over the item that was taken away from her, until Tara finally said something.

“Athelyn, did you see this on her before?”

“See what?”

Tara went to him and showed him what he meant. In her hand, she was holding a necklace with a pink crystal pendant. The crystal looked very exotic and beautiful, nothing like he has ever seen in Cyrodiil. It couldn’t be from Morrowind because in all his years in Morrowind and traveling around it, Athelyn has never once seen a crystal like that before.

“No, this is the first time I have seen it on her.”

“Do you know what this is?”

Athelyn shook his head no.

“It is a rare crystal that is found only in the Summerset Isles throughout all of Tamriel,” Tara explained. “Only the wealthiest can have a hold of a crystal like this, and they are only seen in the hands of an Altmer. How this baby managed to get a hold of a crystal like this, I do not know, but it is possible that one of her parents, who is possibly Altmer, gave it to her.”

“So, she is Altmer then?” Lilinah asked.

“I don’t know, it is just a theory I have since it could be the only explanation as to how to got a hold of the crystal. Unlike the Thalmor, I am not trained in figuring out people’s races, I do not care for such trivial things.”

She hands the necklace over to Athelyn. “You should hold onto this for the time being, it could cause a choking hazard for her.”

Athelyn nodded in understanding and took the necklace from her outstretched hand. Tara then went back towards the baby.

“Now, let’s see if this precious baby is in good health.”

As Tara inspected the baby, the baby fussed and tried crawling away at first, but she eventually warmed up to the kind-looking Dunmer since she saw that she seemed rather harmless. Tara opened the baby’s mouth, turned it’s head this way and that way but gently. She checked for any possible bruises or infections the child may have, but she saw that there was none.

“Well? Is the child completely healthy?” Athelyn asked after Tara was done inspecting the baby.

“She is completely healthy, so no need to worry.”

At this, Athelyn breathed a sigh of relief that he had not realized he had been holding.

“But she is starting to teeth and is going to need something to comfort the pain with. I would probably put some potions for pain in her drinks or give her something to suck on to help deal with the pain. Are you plan on keeping her?”

“No.”

“No!”

There was an immediate no from both Lilinah and Athelyn, but it was more loudly with Lilinah than Athelyn. This made Tara look at Lilinah in a way that was like a master reprimanding his apprentice, and it made Lilinah look down in shame and embarrassment.

“Lilinah and I talked about it and we both agreed to take care of it for the time being until we can make the trip to either Burma or Skyrim in hopes that she would be adopted by one of her own,” Athelyn said. “If not, then we would have to leave her at an orphanage.”

“That may be best, especially for this time of the year. I have heard that Burma and Skyrim are terribly cold during the winter,” Tara agreed. “Then again, I heard that Skyrim is always cold.”

“So have you thought of a name for her?”

“What?”

“Do you have a name for her?” Tara asked again.

When she did not receive a response from the couple, Tara gave them an incredulous look.

“You don’t mean to tell me you were planning on taking care of her and not giving her a name, were you?”

“We did not really think about it…” Athelyn said, feeling a little awkward under Tara's stern scrutiny. Despite his old age and years of experience, Tara was much older than him and she sometimes had a way of making even the most oldest of elves feel like a child when she scolds at them for something.

“Well, why don’t you give her a name now? You can’t always just call her that baby or the child, she deserves a name just like any other person.”

For a minute or two, Athelyn and Lilinah said nothing, both of them not sure how to respond at first. Lilinah was unwilling to give the baby a name while Athelyn stared at the baby in deep thought. He wondered what would be a good name for her until a name finally came up in his head.

“Yasmina,” he said. “Yasmina will be her name.”

“Yasmina? Such a strange name for a Nord…”

“I just thought it was a very pretty name, I once heard with an adventurer passing through who had the same name.”

“Very well, Yasmina shall be her name.”

Tara then turned to the baby now named Yasmina and started talking to her in a high-pitched voice.

“You hear that, precious? Your name is now Yasmina!”

All the baby did was respond with a smile to her and started moving her arms and legs in excitement.

While Athelyn and Tara bonded with the child, Lilinah just watched them from afar. A feeling of bittersweet sadness came over her as she watched them. Seeing Athelyn bond with the half Nord child reminded Lilinah of happier times with Casien when he was the child’s age and that made her almost smile, but those days were long gone now that Casien was gone. It was what made her sad even today, even though it has been nearly eight years since his death. For Dunmer or any kind of mer, grief took a longer process to handle than for humans. Sometimes, there were cases where a mer would pass on from grief, not being able to move on from their loved one’s passing. Lilinah feared she was starting to become one of those few cases, but she was just thankful that Tara was visiting her everyday to make sure she didn't. At times, the Dunmer woman's persistence in visiting her and making sure she was okay annoyed her, but there are other times where she was eternally grateful for it.

When she could not take it no longer watching Athelyn and Tara bond with the child, Lilinah just went up to her room and went to bed without saying goodnight to her dear friend Tara and husband, hoping that tomorrow and the next days after would be a better day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I depicted the scene of Athelyn and Lilinah grieving over the son very well, I only did my best because I myself have never experienced grief, I can only imagine what it is like and at least attempt to put myself in that person's shoes and think of how they would feel if I lost a child. Only the universe and those who experience this know what it is like to lose their child, but I don't have any children, so I can only imagine. I get emails all the time from parents from the Sandy Hook Elementary who describe to me what it is like to violently lose their child like that, so I can only imagine through them what it would be like.
> 
> And the real "Tara" that I know is actually a psychologist, and she has been studying it for years. She is also an ordained priestess and has been a major influence in my development, so as a bit of tribute to her, I am putting her in this story since she plays a major part in Yasmina's development as a character. I decided to use spiritual guidance counselor for the Tara in the story since there is no such thing as psychologists in the Elder Scrolls world.
> 
> Also, it may seem like my story seems very similar to MikaLero's story, and it is and is not. Some elements may be the same, but the plotline is very different. Thank you a lot, MikaLero, for all your help and support :)
> 
> Again, feel free to give me constructive criticism or leave a comment saying how much you love it. Either one works, just again no flames please.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you and hope you enjoyed it!


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